University of KwaZulu-Natal

School of Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering

ENEL2EDH2

Digital stopwatch Report

Group 28

2019

UNIVERSITY OF KWAZULU-NATAL
ENEL2EDH2

DCLARATION PAGE: Digital stopwatch Report

MODULE NAME MODULE CODE DUE DATE
Electrical Design 2 ENEL2EDH2 10 October 2019

SURNAME INITIA L STUDENT NUMBER

STUDENT 1 MBUNGANE
STUDENT 2 NTOMBELA N 218011624
STUDENT 3 NGCONGO
STUDENT 4

DECLARATION

We declare that: •All members have made nominally equivalent contribution to the
preparation and compilation of the submission.
•We have read and are familiar with the University’s policy on plagiarism;
•We have checked this assignment to ensure that it contains no instances of plagiarism;
•Where the work of others has been relied upon in this assignment, it has been duly
acknowledged and clearly referenced.
Student 1 Signature: _______________________ Date: _________
Student 2 Signature: _______________________ Date: _________
Student 3 Signature: _______________________ Date: _________
Student 4 Signature: _______________________ Date: _________
 ABSTRACT
Stopwatches find use as time keeping device in many fields, namely sports. Stopwatches
may be analogue or digital. Its function is to find out how long it takes in an activity
.Digital stopwatches are much more common the analogue version owing to their higher
accuracy and ease of use. Here we have tried to realize a digital stopwatch of reasonable
accuracy and reliability.

This particular stopwatch can count up to 9 minutes and 59.9 seconds .It is accurate up
to one tenth of a second. The circuit is relatively simple and easy to realize .The heart of the
circuit is a stable mv followed by counter and decoder stages. The circuit is explained
extensively in the following pages. The circuit operates on 5-v dc supply. It uses a seven
segment LED display of common anode type to show time

TABLE OF CONTENT
CONTENT PAGE
Aim of the design
Design steps
Components used

introduction
Circuit diagram
 7 segment display
555CN timer
Stopwatch limitations

AIM OF THE DESING

We wanted to design a Digital Stop Watch using discrete electronic components. We

want our design to start , Stop and reset and it should be able to count up and down with
a interval time tracking minutes ,seconds, and tenths of seconds. We aim the maximum
time interval up or down to be 9:59.0 after which the watch reset to 0:00.0.The design
should be small as possible and the power supply must be the battery . We want to make
a design that does not results in timing hazards such as spikes and glitches

DESIGN STEPS

*Identify the design goal

*Look at possible solutions (more than one). Then choose the one you will implement
with motivation for the choice
* Draw circuit schematic
* Evaluate and test the design through circuit simulation Make circuit changes as
required and re-simulation
* use bread board for layout
*construct and test

DIGITAL COMPONENTS USED

• Consists of two categories:

– Combinational logic components
– Sequential logic components
• Primitive components:
– Offer the lowest level of functionality
– Simple gates:
Basic logic functions eg. AND, OR, NOT
– Complex gates:
 Basic logic combinations
– Latches: level triggered storage elements
– Flip-flops: Edge triggered storage elements

COMPONENTS AND THEIR FUNCTIONS

*jumper wires - for establishing a electrical connection between two points in a

circuit
*9 volts battery for supplying power
*switches -for opening and closing the circuit In our design it enables count down
and count up
*555 timer – providing time delays, as an oscillator, and as a flip-flop
element.
*seven segment display -for consist  of 7 segment light emitting diodes (LEDs)
and that is assembled into a structure like numeral 8
*capacitors and resistors-( two 0.001miro farads were used in the connection with
the 555 timer together with the 82 ohms and 1k resistors ,the product of these two
resulting in time constant

INTRODUCTION

STOPWATCH:-
Stopwatches can be classified into two categories, Type I and Type II. In general,
stopwatches are classified as Type I if they have a digital design employing quartz
oscillators and electronic circuitry to measure time intervals (Figure 2). Type II
stopwatches have an
analogue design and use mechanical mechanisms to measure time intervals (Figure 3).
Key
element of Type I and Type II stopwatches are summarized in Table.

CIRCUIT DIAGRAM
DIGITAL STOPWATCH DESCRIPTION

THE 7-SEGMENT DISPLAY

An LED or Light Emitting Diode, is a solid state optical PN-junction diode which emits light
energy in the form of “photons” when it is forward biased by a voltage allowing current
to flow across its junction, and in Electronics we call this process electroluminescence.

The actual colour of the visible light emitted by an LED, ranging from blue to red to
orange, is decided by the spectral wavelength of the emitted light which itself is
dependent upon the mixture of the various impurities added to the semiconductor
materials used to produce it.
LED’s have many advantages over traditional bulbs and lamps, with the main ones being
their small size, long life, various colours, cheapness and are readily available, as well as
being easy to interface with various other electronic components and digital circuits.

But the main advantage of light emitting diodes is that because of their small die size,
several of them can be connected together within one small and compact package
producing what is generally called a 7-segment Display.

The 7-segment display, also written as “seven segment display”, consists of seven LEDs
(hence its name) arranged in a rectangular fashion as shown. Each of the seven LEDs is
called a segment because when illuminated the segment forms part of a numerical digit
(both Decimal and Hex) to be displayed. An additional 8th LED is sometimes used within
the same package thus allowing the indication of a decimal point, (DP) when two or more
7-segment displays are connected together to display numbers greater than ten.

Each one of the seven LEDs in the display is given a positional segment with one of its
connection pins being brought straight out of the rectangular plastic package

. These individually LED pins are labelled from a through to g representing each individual
LED. The other LED pins are connected together and wired to form a common pin.So by
forward biasing the appropriate pins of the LED segments in a particular order, some
segments will be light and others will be dark allowing the desired character pattern of
the number to be generated on the display. This then allows us to display each of the ten
decimal digits 0 through to 9 on the same 7-segment display.

The displays common pin is generally used to identify which type of 7-segment display it
is. As each LED has two connecting pins, one called the “Anode” and the other called the
“Cathode”, there are therefore two types of LED 7-segment display called: Common
Cathode (CC) and Common Anode (CA).

The difference between the two displays, as their name suggests, is that the common
cathode has all the cathodes of the 7-segments connected directly together and the
common anode has all the anodes of the 7-segments connected together and is
illuminated as follows.

Common Cathode 7-segment Display:

1. The Common Cathode (CC) – In the common cathode display, all the cathode
connections of the LED segments are joined together to logic “0″ or ground. The
individual segments are illuminated by application of a “HIGH”, or logic “1″ signal via a
current limiting resistor to forward bias the individual Anode terminals (a-g).

 2. The Common Anode (CA) – In the common anode display, all the anode connections of
the LED segments are joined together to logic “1″. The individual segments are
illuminated by applying a ground, logic “0″ or “LOW” signal via a suitable current limiting
resistor to the Cathode of the particular segment (a-g).

Common Anode 7-segment Display

In general, common anode displays are more popular as many logic circuits can sink more
current than they can source. Also note that a common cathode display is not a direct
replacement in a circuit for a common anode display and vice versa, as it is the same as
connecting the LEDs in reverse, and hence light emission will not take place

Depending upon the decimal digit to be displayed, the particular set of LEDs is forward
biased. For instance, to display the numerical digit 0, we will need to light up six of the
LED segments corresponding to a, b, c, d, e and f. Then the various digits
from 0 through 9 can be displayed using a 7-segment display as shown. 7-Segment
Display Segments for all Numbers.

Then for a 7-segment display, we can produce a truth table giving the individual
segments that need to be illuminated in order to produce the required decimal digit

from 0 through 9 as shown below. 7-segment Display Truth Table

Decimal Individual Segments Illuminated

Digit a b c d e f g
0 × × × × × ×  
1   × ×        
2 × ×   × ×   ×
3 × × × ×     ×
4   × ×     × ×
5 ×   × ×   × ×
6 ×   × × × × ×
7 × × ×        
8 × × × × × × ×
9 × × × ×   × ×

Driving a 7-segment Display

 Although a 7-segment display can be thought of as a single display, it is still seven
individual LEDs within a single package and as such these LEDs need protection from
overcurrent. LEDs produce light only when it is forward biased with the amount of light
emitted being proportional to the forward current.

This means then that a LEDs light intensity increases in an approximately linear manner
with an increasing current. So this forward current must be controlled and limited to a
safe value by an external resistor to prevent damage to the LED segments.

The forward voltage drop across a red LED segment is very low at about 2-to-2.2 volts,
(blue and white LEDs can be as high as 3.6 volts) so to illuminate correctly, the LED
segments should be connected to a voltage source in excess of this forward voltage value
with a series resistance used to limit the forward current to a desirable value.

Typically for a standard red coloured 7-segment display, each LED segment can draw
about 15 mA to illuminated correctly, so on a 5 volt digital logic circuit, the value of the
current limiting resistor would be about 200Ω (5v – 2v)/15mA, or 220Ω to the nearest
higher preferred value.

So to understand how the segments of the display are connected to a 220Ω current

limiting resistor consider the circuit below.

7 SEGMENT DISPLAY

 
 In this example, the segments of a common cathode display are illuminated using the
switches. If switch a is closed, current will flow through the “a” segment of the LED to the
current limiting resistor connected to pin a and to 0 volts, making the circuit. Then only
segment a will be illuminated. So a LOW condition (switch to ground) is required to
activate the LED segments on this common anode display.

But suppose we want the decimal number “4″ to illuminate on the display. Then
switches b, c, f and g would be closed to light the corresponding LED segments. Likewise
for a decimal number “7″, switches a, b, c would be closed. But illuminating 7-segment
displays using individual switches is not very practical.

For checking the display you require a simple tool that is your multi-meter. Steps follow
while testing seven segment displays-
1. Hold the display in your hand and identify the pin 1.This can be done as shown in figure
below.

2. Now take multi-meter (Assumption followed red lead for positive and black lead for
negative). Set the multi-meter in continuity range.
3. Check for sound test (touch both the leads together sound will produce). Sometimes it
may possible, battery of your multi-meter become weak and we will be not being able to
get the display.
4. Put the Black lead of multi-meter on pin 3 or 8 both are common pin as they are
internally connected.
5. Now put Red lead of multi-meter on any other pin may be 1, 5.
6. If any of the segment glows then your display is common cathode.
7. If none of the segment glows than interchange the leads of multi-meter.
8. Connect the Red lead of multi-meter on pin 3 or pin 8 as both are common pin and
internally connected to each other.
9. Now put the black lead of the multi-meter on other remaining pin. If any of the
segment glow than your display is common anode, as in common anode positive pin is
common and rest are supplied with negative supply.
10. Check all segments of both common cathode and anode to ensure your display is
working properly.
11. If none of the segment glows means your 7 segment is faulty.
 I hope this will save your time and energy for identification and let you know how to test
seven segment display.

555CN timer

The 555 timer IC is an integrated circuit  (chip) used in a variety of timer, pulse
generation, and oscillator applications. The 555 timer can be used to provide time delays,
as an oscillator, and as a flip-flop element.

The important features of the 555 timer are :

∙ It ope, or equivalently 0.005 %/ °C.
∙ The duty cycle of the timer is adjustable with the maximum power dissipation per
package is 600 mW and its trigger and reset inputs are logic compatible.

rates from a wide range of power supplies ranging from + 5 Volts to + 18 Volts supply
voltage.
∙ Sinking or sourcing 200 mA of load current.
∙ The external components should be selected properly so that the timing intervals can be
made into several minutes Proper selection of only a few external components allows
timing intervals of several minutes along with the frequencies exceeding several hundred
kilo hertz. ∙
It has a high current output; the output can drive TTL.
∙ It has a temperature stability of 50 parts per million (ppm) per degree Celsius change in
temperature

Figure 1 showing block diagram of 555 timer

Pin 1:
Grounded Terminal: All the voltages are measured with respect to this terminal.
Pin 2:
Trigger Terminal: This pin is an inverting input to a comparator that is responsible for
transition of flip-flop from set to reset. The output of the timer depends on the amplitude
of the external trigger pulse applied to this pin.
Pin 3:
Output Terminal: Output of the timer is available at this pin. There are two ways in which
a load can be connected to the output terminal either between pin 3 and ground pin (pin
1) or between pin 3 and supply pin (pin 8). The load connected between pin 3 and ground
supply pin is called the normally on load and that connected between pin 3 and ground
pin is called the normally off load.
Pin 4:
Reset Terminal: To disable or reset the timer a negative pulse is applied to this pin due to
which it is referred to as reset terminal. When this pin is not to be used for reset purpose,
it should be connected to + VCC to avoid any possibility of false triggering.
Pin 5:
Control Voltage Terminal: The function of this terminal is to control the threshold and
trigger levels. Thus either the external voltage or a pot connected to this pin determines
the pulse width of the output waveform. The external voltage applied to this pin can also
be used to modulate the output waveform. When this pin is not used, it should be
connected to ground through a 0.01 micro Farad to avoid any noise problem.
Pin 6:
Threshold Terminal: This is the non-inverting input terminal of comparator 1, which
compares the voltage applied to the terminal with a reference voltage of 2/3 VCC. The
amplitude of voltage applied to this terminal is responsible for the set state of flip-flop.
Pin 7 :
Discharge Terminal: This pin is connected internally to the collector of transistor and
mostly a capacitor is connected between this terminal and ground. It is called discharge
terminal because when transistor saturates, capacitor discharges through the transistor.
When the transistor is cut-off, the capacitor charges at a rate determined by the external
resistor and capacitor.
Pin 8:

Supply Terminal: A supply voltage of + 5 V to + 18 V is applied to this terminal with

respect to ground (pin 1)

Digital Stopwatch Limitations:

1. The circuit does not display the actual time, but rather the count of clock pulses.
2. The use of digital counter ICs produces a time delay in the whole operation, because of
propagation delay.
3. This is a theoretical circuit and may require changes.

APPLICATION OF STOPWATCH

This circuit can be used as an indicator at quiz competitions or simple to used to

measure the time interval of an event.

CONCLUSION

After completion of this digital stopwatch project I have learnt some knowledge in designing
the circuit and
understood the implementation using 555timer and counter. The circuit has been
implemented on bread
Board .This circuit can operate in two modes with play and pause
Switches .Our design was able to count up and reset

REFERENCES
Kenneth .J. Ayala, The 8051 Microcontroller and its applications, prentice hall, new
Edition, 2006. – “about the microcontroller functioning
www.circuitstoday.com – “basics of Seven segment display , transistor”
Datasheet’s 434Mhz RF module Rx. Tx. - Cytron Technologies Sdn. Bhd.
7 segment display –LTS 542/543 LITE ON ELECTRONICS,
https://www.electronics-tutorials.ws/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/waveforms-tim37.gif
http://todayscircuits.blogspot.com/2011/06/555-timer-complete-basic-guide.html#.VUBpt9Kqqko

”
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